Civil War
Pension Affidavit by Lucinda Rogers Routen of her husband, William Routen

The
following is a transcription of an affidavit given by Lucinda Rogers Routen,
from the Civil War pension file of her husband, William Routen.William Routen was born in Lincoln County, KY on April 9, 1837, the son
of John and Martha “Patsy” Withers Routon. Both were born and married
in Lincoln County. This was part of his Civil War pension file from the
National Archives.

February
21, 1907

Near
Neal, County of Pottowatomie, State of Oklahoma

I am
48 years of age, my post office is Econtuchka.My occupation is housekeeping and farm work.I am the widow of William Routen who served in Co. C, 19th
Ky Inf. And claim pension as his widow.That
was the only service either military or naval that he had.He was a private.He was a pensioner when he died.Rate $8.00 payable at the Topeka agency.He died on March 18, 1905, about one mile west of Econtuchka,
the cause of death was bronchitis and chronic diarrhea and piles.I was married to William Routen on July 21, 1878, in Lincoln County, Ky.My maiden name was Lucinda Rogers and I had never been previously married
and I have not remarried since he died.I
was never divorced from him and I lived with him as his wife till he died.At the date of his death we had five children under sixteen years of age
as follows:

Helen
born April 16, 1891

Eugene
born May 11 1893

Albert
born May 11, 1893twins

Patsy
born April 7, 1895

Alma
born June 7 1897

I
have no Bible record.I did have a
Bible record but all our household goods were all lost on the railroad when we
moved from Arkansas to Oklahoma.When
I made out my pension papers I fixed the dates from memory, but I am sure they
are correct.All the children named
above were born near Pleasant Point, Ky.An
old lady named Pop Simms of Pleasant Point, Ky was the midwife when the twins
were born, and an old lady, Polly Ann Padgett, Pleasant Point, Ky was the
midwife when Patsy, a girl, was born.Dr. M. Thompson, Pleasant Point, Ky attended me at the birth of Alma and
Dr. O’Bannon, Stanford Ky.The
following were also present at the birth of each of the five children named
above—Ella B. Fox and Mary C. Dye—both of Pleasant Point, Ky.All said children are yet alive.Both
Mr. Routen and I were born and raised in Lincoln Co., Ky.We resided there till the summer of 1898.Then we moved to the Chickasaw N. Indian Territory, P.O. Pontotoc.Dr. James treated Mr. Routen for the bronchitis and chronic
diarrhea.In January 1902 we moved
to Havana, Yell Co., Ark. and stayed there till Oct. 1904.Dr. Britt treated Mr. Routen there.In Oct. 1904 we moved to this place where he died.He was confined to bed about two weeks prior to his death.He also had a hawking cough.He
kept getting weaker with both of them till he died.He passed away quietly just like one going to sleep.We had no doctor.He
did not want any doctor.He just
used some cough syrups and dieted himself for his diarrhea.I was never married before I married Wm Routen.I koew Wm. Routen only about six months before I married him.I had lived in the same county but did not know him until then.I had no personal acquaintance with either of his former
wives while they lived with him.He
told me he had been married three times before he married me.The first wife was Louisa Walls.She died and is buried at Pleasant Point, Ky.She was married only once and I do not know the year of
either her marriage or death.J.B.
Walls and John Walls are brothers of hers, PO Pleasant Point, Ky.Mr. Routen said she died and after she died he married Mary Jane Spratt.She also died in the same house his first one did and is buried in the
same grave yard I suppose.I do not
know the year.Wm M. Murphy and
Jack Murphy were related to that second wife.J.B. Walls and Martha Cummins knew her well, all near Pleasant Point, Ky.She had not been previously married.I do not know the date of either her marriage or death.She died at Pleasant Point, Ky and is buried there.She had two sisters, Mrs. Belle Privett (husband Isaac) and Mrs. Lucy
Padgett (husband Doc) and two brothers Tobe Jeffreys and Douglas Jeffreys all
near Pleasant Point, Ky.I suppose
there is a record off all said marriages.I
do not know what records of death were made.Yes, they all died before he married me.He told me so.So did
my Aunt Lucinda Smith, PO Pleasant Point, Ky, and she knew all three of his
wives named above.Mr.Routen had no real estate when he died and no personal property except
one mule and a wagon and a very few household goods—all worth not over
$100.00.I have had no income since
he died except from my own labor.I
picked cotton and did any work I could get to do.I have no property except two cows and a few household goods, and have
lived on rented lands, living this winter in a tent.